Buhari asks police to halt prosecution of Senator Adeleke for exam fraud until after Osun elections

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has intervened in the ongoing political drama in Osun State asking the inspector-general of police to stop planned prosecution of governorship candidate Senator Ademola Adeleke for examination malpractices.

On Saturday, Osun State goes to the polls to elect a new governor with Senator Adeleke standing as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate. There are five frontrunners in the elections with Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) being the frontrunner and Fatai Akinbade of the  African Democratic Congress, Moshood Adeoti of the Action Democratic Party and Iyiola Omisore of the Social Democratic Party, also in the running.

Notorious for his dancing prowess, Senator Adeleke has been the subject of a lot of controversy as the race heats up amid questions marks over his academic qualifications. Nigeria's constitution stipulates that to become a governor, candidates must at least have O'Levels and over recent months, there have been several legal challenges to the senator's candidacy, as opponents say he did not sit for the West African School Certificate (Wasc).

This week, it was alleged that Senator Adeleke tried to re-sit his Wasc at one stage but sought to get someone else to take the examination for him. Due to the severity of the allegation, the police had been invited to investigate it and Senator Adeleke had been asked to make himself available for questioning.

However, fearful of the fact that it might be seen as an act of political victimisation, President Buhari has asked the inspector-general of police Ibrahim Idris to halt all action on the matter for now. Earlier this week, Nigeria Police Force (NPF) spokesperson deputy commissioner of police, Jimoh Moshood had claimed that Senator Adeleke and some other persons were involved in examination malpractices in 2017.

Subsequently, Senator Adeleke and four other persons had been ordered to report to the NPF headquarters in Abuja for arraignment to court. It is unclear what exactly they did as the West African Examinations Council confirmed that Senator Adeleke, sat for its examination in 1981.